IAM1025- Entrepreneur Fights Climate Change through Business
Podcast Interview with Patrick Moran
Patrick Moran is a Yale-educated social entrepreneur who has committed himself to strengthening his community and fighting climate change through business. Patrick owns and leads Tactical Land Care LLC (TLC) which provides stormwater management solutions and sustainable landscape improvements to residential and commercial properties throughout the DC metro area. He is a dedicated community volunteer who is serving his second term as Chairman of the Alexandria Citizen Corps Council (CCC), where he spearheaded the unanimously adopted ResilientALX Charter by Alexandria City Council aimed at holistically improving the resiliency and preparedness of the City residents, businesses, and organization, in collaboration with its neighbors.
He is a member of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) and has supported the Alexandria Health Department's Covid Relief efforts. Patrick served on the Steering Committee for the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria where he has sought to address healthcare inequalities and social equity issues. Patrick is running for City Council in this upcoming June 8th election where he hopes to continue his efforts to strengthen communities and address gaps for all Alexandrians.
- CEO Hack: Getting things done under pressure
- CEO Nugget: (i) Joint effort or community to get things done (ii) Writing down and sharing values
- CEO Defined: Being a leader and leaving a system that creates value
Website: http://www.tacticallandcare.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tlc_tacticallandcare
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tlctacticallandcare
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/patrickmoranforalexandria
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/patrickmoranforalexandria
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Transcription
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00:23 – Intro
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gretch values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.
00:51 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Patrick Moran of Tactical Land Care, PLC. Patrick, it's great to have you on the show.
01:00 – Patrick Moran
Thank you, Chris. I appreciate you having me.
01:02 – Gresham Harkless
Definitely super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Patrick. So you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Patrick is a Yale-educated social entrepreneur who has committed himself to strengthening his community and fighting climate change through his business. Patrick owns and leads Tactical Land Care, LLC, TLC provides stormwater management solutions and sustainable landscape improvements to residential and commercial properties throughout the DC Metro area.
He is a dedicated community volunteer who is serving his second term as the chairman of the Alexandria Citizen Court Council, where he spearheads the unanimous unanimously adopted resilient ALX charter by the Alexander city council aimed at holistically improving the resiliency and preparedness of the city's residents, businesses, and organizations and collaborate in collaboration with its neighbors. He is a member of the medical reserve court and has supported the Alexandria Health Department's COVID relief efforts.
Patrick served on the steering committee of the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria, where he has sought to address healthcare inequality and social equity issues. Patrick is running for city council in his upcoming June 8 election, where he hopes to continue his efforts to strengthen communities and address gaps for all Alexandrians. Patrick, great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
[restrict paid=”true”]
02:17 – Patrick Moran
Gresh. Thank you, my friend. I sure am. I appreciate the opportunity. I'm looking forward to it.
02:20 – Gresham Harkless
Definitely. I am as well. And what I wanted to do to kinda kick everything off was rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more about how you started what I call your CEO story.
02:28 – Patrick Moran
Yeah. So it was an interesting one. I was somebody, who initially looked at entrepreneurship, with a little bit of skepticism towards business. I wasn't all that sure about it. I didn't understand it and profit sounded like a bad word. So it really my genesis was one in which I was working in nonprofits, working with volunteers, working with interns, thinking that that's the way in which it was the most responsible way to do it. Now, you know, several years removed from that, I, came to understand what, a truly sustainable business was. And, and understanding that the delivery of service and the delivery of value and the opportunity to create jobs around that, that's real sustainability. That's real value. That's a real impact.
And ultimately, that's what insurance in an operation can sustain. So it's, it turned into helping a buddy who was doing residential landscaping, best friend from high school, and we thought we were gonna, we were gonna hustle out a couple of seasons and raise some capital and do some real estate investing and, business started growing. I would have applied some business, development strategies, and some project management expertise that I developed here in my nine-to-five. And things went from there. It got big. We together made a decision that it made sense for me to take over the helm and, from then, we really pivoted into our sustainable landscape practice, which three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, wasn't as popular.
A lot of the kind of common consciousness around understanding that a lot of those methodologies are critically important wasn't there. So there was a little bit of a learning curve, a little bit of an educational opportunity in that, but since that time, we've been, we felt extremely blessed and also fortunate that we live in a community, that jumps at the opportunity to ultimately maximize the ecological benefit of their property, and at the same time being disruptive in the contacting space, which unfortunately, is often kind of defined by a by a low trust relationship.
So we really, bring transparency to it, tons of communication, tons of partnership, and see ourselves as a filling a liaison role, ultimately explaining to people what's going on in their yard, what they can do about it, and, and then facilitating that continued communication and and, relationship for a long time to come.
04:32 – Gresham Harkless
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I think I love how you kind of, obviously your background and the impact that you have, you know, in the community is huge. But I think so many times when, as you said, so well, we think about business, we think that it's siloed. Like you can make profits or you can do good, but we're really starting to see that big, strong. And I love that you're, you're civilizing and doing that as not having issues either, or be able to create a really sustainable business and a really strong business and really make an impact in the community. You don't have to choose either. You can do both and have that at the helm.
05:00 – Patrick Moran
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm not saying it's not easy. It doesn't come without, it's challenging at times, and as much as anything, it's a matter of building a team that shares your vision, understands what we're about, and then also leads, front and foremost with a mission. And we've got on all our features and all our stuff, it's our world, our mission, declaring upfront that the reason why we're doing this is ultimately we understand that we are on the front lines of, of a changing climate. And we're either gonna be proactive in mitigating some of those things that can otherwise negatively impact the quality of life or, otherwise have a detrimental impact on ecology.
But instead facing it, you know, eyes wide open, talking about it and, and then also improving accessibility where, especially now, a lot of residents, and property owners, and business owners are able to take more advantage of a lot of municipal programs that are available. Now whether that's rain gardens or rain barrels or, or permeable hardscapes, we're able to come in, and they're not they're not pulling their contractors or pulling their service providers to to be able to do those things, we are able to to lead off, introduce them, and then also uphold the methodology.
So a big part of it was the initial couple years, was kind of training, tons of certifications, kind of a bit kind of an educational some would say some cost, but really what that data was allowed us to inform our methodology, and inform the way in which we build our operations so that it could be most sustainable both in practice, but also, in its, day to day dealings. So, yeah. We're we're we feel blessed. We're happy. We're we're looking forward to the future.
06:31 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah. It's definitely great to hear. And, as you just mentioned at some cost of those investments that you make, it becomes something that sounds like a strong foundational piece of the business. And obviously, because you're having such an impact in the community as well, too, it starts to manifest itself in so many different ways, as well. And so, I know you touched on it a little bit. I wanted to hear a little bit more if you had anything more to tell us a little bit how you're serving your clients and how that manifests itself, but also what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes, what I like to call your secret sauce.
06:58 – Patrick Moran
Yeah, it's interesting. So we are our office is nestled in the heart of Old Town, Alexandria, and I know you're familiar with Old Town, and as some listeners may be, but it is defined by having townhouses, a lot of them, and small little courtyards. And so, it's an interesting dynamic at play because we are fortunate to live in a wealthy community, and oftentimes a lot of our neighbors have the resources where they could, pay for service providers. But at the same time, you don't have the space. You don't have the space to have, the equipment. So even for the folks that might necessarily want to do it themselves or look forward to that on a Sunday, sometimes there's just a pragmatic reason not to.
And so there's kind of a bit of an intersection there where there's an accessibility benefit. But at the same time, wanting to ensure that the space that they do have is maximized in terms of living space in terms of ultimately maximizing utility as they want it and as they see it. And a lot of folks should come in and do that and not do it to maximize its ecological benefit. You know, you could come back here, hey, I really wanna have a great place, a low maintenance, space where I could come in my backyard, I could share a bottle with my partner and we have a great time. And that's what I want to trust and trust you to, to take that vision and turn it into reality.
08:24 – Gresham Harkless
I love it. You, you do that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
08:36 – Patrick Moran
Well, I tell you I am, and I appreciate you asking that. But, but I am one who gets things done under pressure. So, my hacks more or less have kind of been developed out of necessity, and I've always been this way, but it's just it's and maybe it would have been mitigated early on if I was better at saying no. But I, you know, you say yes to a lot of things, and all of a sudden you got a lot of things on the plate and there's no other option than to be productive as all heck to get them squared away. But, but, yeah, KPIs have been huge for our business. And in in doing so in such a way that was, accessible, understood, and and accepted.
09:13 – Gresham Harkless
Definitely. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
09:24 – Patrick Moran
Yeah. In terms of the nugget surround yourself with great people, and understanding, and that's no secret, right? But ultimately, that within a team is a sustainable impact. Because without joint effort without that community, even if it's a community of two or three or four, your effort stops when you stop. When you take a nap, it's it's there's nothing getting done. But beautiful things happen when people are working together. Beautiful things happen when people share a vision and can bounce things off of each other.
And that was early on, that was something that in following a lot of the kind of those best practices or tips that involved virtual assistance and doing all of these things with people, that could be helpful, but that also required in most kind of micromanagement and kind of a lot of one-way communication and hoping that what you got on the back end, ultimately was what you were looking for. And that wasn't nearly as productive, efficient, or helpful as we built our business as I was hoping it was. But ultimately that change came when, when you start working with people and you're, you're sharing days with, and you're working together on, and you're accepting, accepting a vision together and taking on a mission together, that was huge.
And I guess, kind of summed up teamwork making the dream work, but, heck, we're social creatures. It's no surprise that ultimately for us to get things done, really matters, and can be, positively impactful, it requires mutual effort, shared effort. The other thing that I've recently gotten, more comfortable with that took quite some time was writing. You know, sharing and sitting down and writing out, writing out values, sharing values, not them just being, communicated conversationally, but creating a body of work and creating a kind of a, so to say, a portfolio of of sentiments that ultimately create a culture and, and speak and also kind of amplify your intention.
And that's something that, you know, kind of my necessity, getting involved in the campaign, but also taking some time off to, to spend time with my mother, when she was sick and I got a lot more comfortable with writing and that was empowering, incredibly empowering. It's something, that I hadn't warmed to before, but, now, and have that comfort and the opportunity of the meditative exercise to organize those thoughts, share them, succinctly or sometimes not succinctly, but put it all out there we live in a society where everybody wants a tidbit and everybody wants a hey, give it to me in ten words or less, and if you can't I guess, one hundred and forty characters if you're gonna get I could be.
Right? But, but, heck, I'm pushing back to the long form. You know? Hey. Let's sit down for ten minutes and actually figure this out. Walk away with something that's not just giving you a kind of a superfluous or superficial understanding of an issue, enough to shoot the shit, excuse my language, and shoot but have a conversation of it, actually hold an opinion that this hack is based, or at least be able to have a basis in which you can talk about it and further, kind of foster that deep understanding.
12:36 – Gresham Harkless
Appreciate that. And so, now I wanna ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're open to having different quote-unquote CEOs on the show, so Patrick, what does being a CEO mean to you?
12:46 – Patrick Moran
Oh, I, it means being a leader. It means somebody that creates a system in which, ultimately, prosperity for your community, prosperity for your team, and value creation. And it's a system that and and leading a system solopreneur, our community. And when you're a solopreneur before it's a system, you're a solopreneur when you're doing it yourself, and understanding that your efforts independently are just a matter of fact. They're not gonna be as impactful as you potentially could be when you've got a team that's working, on behalf of that shared vision. And when that's working towards community benefit, when that's creating valuable value, tangible value that strengthens your community and improves the quality of life, that's, in my mind, perfect.
And I think it's also an opportunity where people can self-actualize. Because when you're working on behalf of something which is clearly a point of passion, clearly aligned with passion, and you're able to be productive in that mindset, it's almost it's like that flow state on tap because you're not having the, you're not having to kind of get out of your comfort zone to do it feels natural. It feels good. And people feel that and that energy can, can really create a lot of momentum, at least in my experience.
Prior to before when we were out there leading trucks, leading crews, and when I was on the project sites wasn't a CEO. I didn't feel like a CEO. I was I was the project manager. I was a business owner. I was doing all of those things. But, ultimately, having that system in which you can feel comfortable, have confidence, and understand that that value delivery is there without you being in the field, by virtue of the system that you've created and the team, that is working behind, you know, around you and, and beyond you. That's what's powerful, and that's an opportunity to expand your leadership opportunities to encompass a chief executive officer, CEO, so to speak. So look forward to the future.
14:41 – Gresham Harkless
Definitely appreciate that definition, Patrick. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic one more time just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome
14:52 – Patrick Moran
things you're working on. Gresh, I really appreciate it. And it's fun, having an opportunity to talk about these things because ultimately we're gonna be a better community, a better society, and, you know, a better world to live in when more folks are empowered to work on behalf of what they are most passionate about, and the value that they feel, most equipped to deliver to, to those folks around me, which is, which is huge. But, yeah, I encourage everybody to reach out. I'd love the opportunity to talk more about these. I have an occasion to be a bit long-winded. So, but tacticallandcare.com.
And on there, we've got our team. We've got ways of getting in touch with us. We're also on Instagram. We keep it pretty light on Instagram but we've, you know, a ton of content, most of which we try to be as funny and educational as we can be and that's tacticallandcare.com on Insta, we're on Facebook, we're on social, but we're, we have a budding TikTok presence as well, Gresh, so So maybe I'll shoot you over a link for that as well. But, yeah, it'll be great to, continue this conversation in the future and, hopefully, inspire more young leaders to, positively impact their communities, and and shape our future to be the best it possibly can be.
16:02 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah. Absolutely. We will definitely have those links and information in the show notes, especially that TikTok link. So I appreciate you for sharing that. And I definitely think that was the quote, you know, be the change you hope to see in the world. So I think a lot of times we forget that it starts with us. So I appreciate you for, being a leader and, and marching and having that change. And it kind of reminds us of how we can do that in our lives, in our businesses, organizations, whatever roles we might have. So definitely appreciate that again, Patrick. I appreciate your time again, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.
16:28 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
00:23 - Intro
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gretch values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.
00:51 - Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Patrick Moran of Tactical Land Care, PLC. Patrick, it's great to have you on the show.
01:00 - Patrick Moran
Thank you, Chris. I appreciate you having me.
01:02 - Gresham Harkless
Definitely super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Patrick. So you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Patrick is a Yale-educated social entrepreneur who has committed himself to strengthening his community and fighting climate change through his business. Patrick owns and leads Tactical Land Care, LLC, TLC provides stormwater management solutions and sustainable landscape improvements to residential and commercial properties throughout the DC Metro area.
He is a dedicated community volunteer who is serving his second term as the chairman of the Alexandria Citizen Court Council, where he spearheads the unanimous unanimously adopted resilient ALX charter by the Alexander city council aimed at holistically improving the resiliency and preparedness of the city's residents, businesses, and organizations and collaborate in collaboration with its neighbors. He is a member of the medical reserve court and has supported the Alexandria Health Department's COVID relief efforts.
Patrick served on the steering committee of the Partnership for a Healthier Alexandria, where he has sought to address healthcare inequality and social equity issues. Patrick is running for city council in his upcoming June 8 election, where he hopes to continue his efforts to strengthen communities and address gaps for all Alexandrians. Patrick, great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
02:17 - Patrick Moran
Gresh. Thank you, my friend. I sure am. I appreciate the opportunity. I'm looking forward to it.
02:20 - Gresham Harkless
Definitely. I am as well. And what I wanted to do to kinda kick everything off was rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more about how you started what I call your CEO story.
02:28 - Patrick Moran
Yeah. So it was an interesting one. I was somebody, who initially looked at entrepreneurship, with a little bit of skepticism towards business. I wasn't all that sure about it. I didn't understand it and profit sounded like a bad word. So it really my genesis was one in which I was working in nonprofits, working with volunteers, working with interns, thinking that that's the way in which it was the most responsible way to do it. Now, you know, several years removed from that, I, came to understand what, a truly sustainable business was. And, and understanding that the delivery of service and the delivery of value and the opportunity to create jobs around that, that's real sustainability. That's real value. That's a real impact.
And ultimately, that's what insurance in an operation can sustain. So it's, it turned into helping a buddy who was doing residential landscaping, best friend from high school, and we thought we were gonna, we were gonna hustle out a couple of seasons and raise some capital and do some real estate investing and, business started growing. I would have applied some business, development strategies, and some project management expertise that I developed here in my nine-to-five. And things went from there. It got big. We together made a decision that it made sense for me to take over the helm and, from then, we really pivoted into our sustainable landscape practice, which three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, wasn't as popular.
A lot of the kind of common consciousness around understanding that a lot of those methodologies are critically important wasn't there. So there was a little bit of a learning curve, a little bit of an educational opportunity in that, but since that time, we've been, we felt extremely blessed and also fortunate that we live in a community, that jumps at the opportunity to ultimately maximize the ecological benefit of their property, and at the same time being disruptive in the contacting space, which unfortunately, is often kind of defined by a by a low trust relationship.
So we really, bring transparency to it, tons of communication, tons of partnership, and see ourselves as a filling a liaison role, ultimately explaining to people what's going on in their yard, what they can do about it, and, and then facilitating that continued communication and and, relationship for a long time to come.
04:32 - Gresham Harkless
Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I think I love how you kind of, obviously your background and the impact that you have, you know, in the community is huge. But I think so many times when, as you said, so well, we think about business, we think that it's siloed. Like you can make profits or you can do good, but we're really starting to see that big, strong. And I love that you're, you're civilizing and doing that as not having issues either, or be able to create a really sustainable business and a really strong business and really make an impact in the community. You don't have to choose either. You can do both and have that at the helm.
05:00 - Patrick Moran
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm not saying it's not easy. It doesn't come without, it's challenging at times, and as much as anything, it's a matter of building a team that shares your vision, understands what we're about, and then also leads, front and foremost with a mission. And we've got on all our features and all our stuff, it's our world, our mission, declaring upfront that the reason why we're doing this is ultimately we understand that we are on the front lines of, of a changing climate. And we're either gonna be proactive in mitigating some of those things that can otherwise negatively impact the quality of life or, otherwise have a detrimental impact on ecology.
But instead facing it, you know, eyes wide open, talking about it and, and then also improving accessibility where, especially now, a lot of residents, and property owners, and business owners are able to take more advantage of a lot of municipal programs that are available. Now whether that's rain gardens or rain barrels or, or permeable hardscapes, we're able to come in, and they're not they're not pulling their contractors or pulling their service providers to to be able to do those things, we are able to to lead off, introduce them, and then also uphold the methodology.
So a big part of it was the initial couple years, was kind of training, tons of certifications, kind of a bit kind of an educational some would say some cost, but really what that data was allowed us to inform our methodology, and inform the way in which we build our operations so that it could be most sustainable both in practice, but also, in its, day to day dealings. So, yeah. We're we're we feel blessed. We're happy. We're we're looking forward to the future.
06:31 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. It's definitely great to hear. And, as you just mentioned at some cost of those investments that you make, it becomes something that sounds like a strong foundational piece of the business. And obviously, because you're having such an impact in the community as well, too, it starts to manifest itself in so many different ways, as well. And so, I know you touched on it a little bit. I wanted to hear a little bit more if you had anything more to tell us a little bit how you're serving your clients and how that manifests itself, but also what you feel kind of sets you apart and makes, what I like to call your secret sauce.
06:58 - Patrick Moran
Yeah, it's interesting. So we are our office is nestled in the heart of Old Town, Alexandria, and I know you're familiar with Old Town, and as some listeners may be, but it is defined by having townhouses, a lot of them, and small little courtyards. And so, it's an interesting dynamic at play because we are fortunate to live in a wealthy community, and oftentimes a lot of our neighbors have the resources where they could, pay for service providers. But at the same time, you don't have the space. You don't have the space to have, the equipment. So even for the folks that might necessarily want to do it themselves or look forward to that on a Sunday, sometimes there's just a pragmatic reason not to.
And so there's kind of a bit of an intersection there where there's an accessibility benefit. But at the same time, wanting to ensure that the space that they do have is maximized in terms of living space in terms of ultimately maximizing utility as they want it and as they see it. And a lot of folks should come in and do that and not do it to maximize its ecological benefit. You know, you could come back here, hey, I really wanna have a great place, a low maintenance, space where I could come in my backyard, I could share a bottle with my partner and we have a great time. And that's what I want to trust and trust you to, to take that vision and turn it into reality.
08:24 - Gresham Harkless
I love it. You, you do that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
08:36 - Patrick Moran
Well, I tell you I am, and I appreciate you asking that. But, but I am one who gets things done under pressure. So, my hacks more or less have kind of been developed out of necessity, and I've always been this way, but it's just it's and maybe it would have been mitigated early on if I was better at saying no. But I, you know, you say yes to a lot of things, and all of a sudden you got a lot of things on the plate and there's no other option than to be productive as all heck to get them squared away. But, but, yeah, KPIs have been huge for our business. And in in doing so in such a way that was, accessible, understood, and and accepted.
09:13 - Gresham Harkless
Definitely. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.
09:24 - Patrick Moran
Yeah. In terms of the nugget surround yourself with great people, and understanding, and that's no secret, right? But ultimately, that within a team is a sustainable impact. Because without joint effort without that community, even if it's a community of two or three or four, your effort stops when you stop. When you take a nap, it's it's there's nothing getting done. But beautiful things happen when people are working together. Beautiful things happen when people share a vision and can bounce things off of each other.
And that was early on, that was something that in following a lot of the kind of those best practices or tips that involved virtual assistance and doing all of these things with people, that could be helpful, but that also required in most kind of micromanagement and kind of a lot of one-way communication and hoping that what you got on the back end, ultimately was what you were looking for. And that wasn't nearly as productive, efficient, or helpful as we built our business as I was hoping it was. But ultimately that change came when, when you start working with people and you're, you're sharing days with, and you're working together on, and you're accepting, accepting a vision together and taking on a mission together, that was huge.
And I guess, kind of summed up teamwork making the dream work, but, heck, we're social creatures. It's no surprise that ultimately for us to get things done, really matters, and can be, positively impactful, it requires mutual effort, shared effort. The other thing that I've recently gotten, more comfortable with that took quite some time was writing. You know, sharing and sitting down and writing out, writing out values, sharing values, not them just being, communicated conversationally, but creating a body of work and creating a kind of a, so to say, a portfolio of of sentiments that ultimately create a culture and, and speak and also kind of amplify your intention.
And that's something that, you know, kind of my necessity, getting involved in the campaign, but also taking some time off to, to spend time with my mother, when she was sick and I got a lot more comfortable with writing and that was empowering, incredibly empowering. It's something, that I hadn't warmed to before, but, now, and have that comfort and the opportunity of the meditative exercise to organize those thoughts, share them, succinctly or sometimes not succinctly, but put it all out there we live in a society where everybody wants a tidbit and everybody wants a hey, give it to me in ten words or less, and if you can't I guess, one hundred and forty characters if you're gonna get I could be.
Right? But, but, heck, I'm pushing back to the long form. You know? Hey. Let's sit down for ten minutes and actually figure this out. Walk away with something that's not just giving you a kind of a superfluous or superficial understanding of an issue, enough to shoot the shit, excuse my language, and shoot but have a conversation of it, actually hold an opinion that this hack is based, or at least be able to have a basis in which you can talk about it and further, kind of foster that deep understanding.
12:36 - Gresham Harkless
Appreciate that. And so, now I wanna ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're open to having different quote-unquote CEOs on the show, so Patrick, what does being a CEO mean to you?
12:46 - Patrick Moran
Oh, I, it means being a leader. It means somebody that creates a system in which, ultimately, prosperity for your community, prosperity for your team, and value creation. And it's a system that and and leading a system solopreneur, our community. And when you're a solopreneur before it's a system, you're a solopreneur when you're doing it yourself, and understanding that your efforts independently are just a matter of fact. They're not gonna be as impactful as you potentially could be when you've got a team that's working, on behalf of that shared vision. And when that's working towards community benefit, when that's creating valuable value, tangible value that strengthens your community and improves the quality of life, that's, in my mind, perfect.
And I think it's also an opportunity where people can self-actualize. Because when you're working on behalf of something which is clearly a point of passion, clearly aligned with passion, and you're able to be productive in that mindset, it's almost it's like that flow state on tap because you're not having the, you're not having to kind of get out of your comfort zone to do it feels natural. It feels good. And people feel that and that energy can, can really create a lot of momentum, at least in my experience.
Prior to before when we were out there leading trucks, leading crews, and when I was on the project sites wasn't a CEO. I didn't feel like a CEO. I was I was the project manager. I was a business owner. I was doing all of those things. But, ultimately, having that system in which you can feel comfortable, have confidence, and understand that that value delivery is there without you being in the field, by virtue of the system that you've created and the team, that is working behind, you know, around you and, and beyond you. That's what's powerful, and that's an opportunity to expand your leadership opportunities to encompass a chief executive officer, CEO, so to speak. So look forward to the future.
14:41 - Gresham Harkless
Definitely appreciate that definition, Patrick. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic one more time just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome
14:52 - Patrick Moran
things you're working on. Gresh, I really appreciate it. And it's fun, having an opportunity to talk about these things because ultimately we're gonna be a better community, a better society, and, you know, a better world to live in when more folks are empowered to work on behalf of what they are most passionate about, and the value that they feel, most equipped to deliver to, to those folks around me, which is, which is huge. But, yeah, I encourage everybody to reach out. I'd love the opportunity to talk more about these. I have an occasion to be a bit long-winded. So, but tacticallandcare.com.
And on there, we've got our team. We've got ways of getting in touch with us. We're also on Instagram. We keep it pretty light on Instagram but we've, you know, a ton of content, most of which we try to be as funny and educational as we can be and that's tacticallandcare.com on Insta, we're on Facebook, we're on social, but we're, we have a budding TikTok presence as well, Gresh, so So maybe I'll shoot you over a link for that as well. But, yeah, it'll be great to, continue this conversation in the future and, hopefully, inspire more young leaders to, positively impact their communities, and and shape our future to be the best it possibly can be.
16:02 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah. Absolutely. We will definitely have those links and information in the show notes, especially that TikTok link. So I appreciate you for sharing that. And I definitely think that was the quote, you know, be the change you hope to see in the world. So I think a lot of times we forget that it starts with us. So I appreciate you for, being a leader and, and marching and having that change. And it kind of reminds us of how we can do that in our lives, in our businesses, organizations, whatever roles we might have. So definitely appreciate that again, Patrick. I appreciate your time again, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.
16:28 - Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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